Frenchman Perrin wins debut show as head coach of China

SHENYANG, Jun 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese men's soccer team won the first match under Frenchman Alain Perrin's guide after a 2-0 victory over Macedonia here on Wednesday.

The host side took the lead ten minutes after the restart. The left winger Yu Hanchao was sent free by a through pass before he dashed into the central area to beat the Macedonia keeper Naumovski Kristijan with a cool finish.

Gao Di, along with other six players who made the debut for the national side, sealed the 2-0 victory after he cut inside from the right flank, striking a low shot to the net.

Perrin, the former league-winning coach of French club Lyon, said he was happy to win his first match in charge of Chinese team.

"In the first ten minutes, it was a little bit tight. Because we had many young players today and we missed several good chances," said the 57-year-old Frenchman.

"But after the rest in dressing room, We were more confident in the second half. The young players were energetic and ambitious. And with luck and control, we finally scored."

Perrin, who took over the position from caretaker Fu Bo in February, is the eighth foreign head coach in history for Chinese national team.

After his side failed to qualify for the Brazil World Cup finals, Perrin is building a young team with the focus on next year's Asian Cup and the qualifying tournament to 2018 World Cup.

Though the Chinese national team has been struggling in recent years, there were still 15,265 fans coming to the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night in Shenyang, which is the lucky city for Chinses football where the national team ensured their first-ever and only entry to FIFA World Cup finals in 2002.

Perrin began his coaching career at AS Nancy in 1983 as junior coach to Arsene Wenger. In 2007 he took Sochaux to the French Cup glory, and then replaced Gerard Houllier as the manager of Olympique Lyon in 2007.

Perrin helped Lyon retain the seventh consecutive Ligue 1 title and also win the French Cup in his first year at the powerhouse. He was linked to French national team's coaching position in 2008, but Raymond Domenech continued his reign.

"These days, I have no time to watch World Cup in Brazil, because I have to work. I support France of course," said Perrin.

"For Chinese team, I will try to get in more new blood and give them more matches to train and gain experience. Gradually, I hope to instill my philosophy to the team. It's a process." he added.

China will play against Macedonia for the second warm-up match on June 22nd. Seven days later, China will play against Mali national team.